Detaching from the larger armada in space beyond the dark side of the Moon, one of the three command ships still waiting moves with its fleet towards the Earth. The Red Horse and thirty-two thousand ferryships descend into Earth's atmosphere.

Rather than landing, the ships circle the Earth in high orbit. Beginning with the Red Horse, a continuous fiery red plasmatic energy gets discharged into the atmosphere, and all the other ships of the fleet follow suit. The great arcs of energy interact with Earth's magnetosphere in a stunning borealic display seen by the bulk of Humanity below.

Down on the Earth, a veil of blindness blankets everyone and anyone without the necessary Eyes to see. Every inch of Earth's circumference gets covered by the fleet of the Red Horse. Once the planet is fully blanketed, ferryships peel off and begin their landings throughout the world.

The forces of the Central Sun still present on Earth deliberately left behind light up, beacons in a pure, unfettered darkness. Those who serve the Central Sun cannot cast a shadow, and the Shadow cast by War's ship reveals his enemy to him. The Red Horse spirals through Earth's atmosphere, settling in over New York Harbor to the south of the city.

Eyes embedded in the hull of the Red Horse open as War begins his search for those who serve the Central Sun. A dozen smaller ferryships followed the Red Horse into the skies over New York City disgorge their troops, Human souls inhabiting constructed bodies allowing for interaction with the denser material reality Earth inhabits.

Despite the Central Sun's retreat, thousands of servitors remain behind in New York City alone, and these seeing their glow against the impenetrable darkness of War's veil realize they must find a way to hide.

Standing in the remains of the Cocoa Exchange building, a woman and the four servitors serving under her now glow brightly. One of the servitors remains on watch outside the collapsed building, keeping their own eye on the Red Horse's Eyes. The servitor watching feels themselves watched in return, and they bid another standing by with them to jump into the semi-cleared rubble.

The servitor bid by the watchstander to move goes into the rubble, finding the cleared space where the portal to the Library had opened and jogs up to her commander and says, "Princess Eleanor, we cannot remain outside and exposed like this!"

"Report what's happening." Princess Eleanor commands.

"A ship from Earth's Underworld hangs over the city. It's most definitely an Angel."

"And there is now a veil of blindness covering the world," Eleanor says, "We can't stay here, we will get . . . collected."

Eleanor turns to the two servitors standing by the now closed portal to the Library and says, "Destroy everything here, we cannot wait for the return of those who went through any longer. They are on their own."

Turning to the servitor who delivered word of the Underworld's arrival, Eleanor says, "Liv, send word to all our forces still in the city to retreat."

"Where?" Liv asks.

". . . East, through the tunnels to Long Island. Once there, keep heading east until out of the city. We will regroup and plan our next course of action."

"Will our own fleet come to rescue us?"

"Eventually, if they can. We must take care of ourselves in the meantime."

"We glow bright in this darkness, too bright. Unaware Humans may not see us, but we stand stark against the veil to Underworld forces."

"Yes," Eleanor says, "We must construct our own veils, cast our own shadows in order to hide."

"How?" Asks Liv.

"Send out an order to all our forces. Any Human who shows they can see us must be seized and taken with us. We will find at least one capable of the magic necessary to make our own veils."

"Aye." Says Liv, who jumps out of the rubble and broadcasts the orders given.

Princess Eleanor watches as the two servitors with her, Bernice and Blanche, destroy the portal. Once that work is complete, the three climb out of the rubble themselves to join Liv and the watchstander, Nora.

Nora, still staring at the Red Horse, senses the arrival of Eleanor and says, "I can sense troops. A few hundred make their way to us right now. A few thousand organize behind them."

Eleanor responds, "These few thousand are only the vanguard. Prepare to fight. We leave now."

All five servants of the Central Sun draw their swords as the first Human-ensouled Underworld Automatons pour in from all directions. The four fully armored servitors and the Princess leading them meet a group of a dozen Automatons at the intersection of Pearl, Beaver, and Wall Streets.

Most of the Automatons are cut to pieces without much struggle, but as the five servants of the Central Sun push down Wall Street towards the East River, the Automatons left in pieces behind them start pulling themselves back together.

Seeing the cords pulled by the Human souls within the Automaton bodies pulling shattered pieces back together, Liv says, "We can't fight these things and hope to win. They will wear us down."

Eleanor responds, "We march through them. We move faster than them."

"For now." Says Beatrice.

"Yes, for now," Says Eleanor, "Let's take advantage of that disparity to get out of the city free and in one piece."

Automaton by Automaton, the five servants of the Central Sun fight their way south on FDR Drive towards the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel. All over the city, servants of the Central Sun fight their retreat towards Long Island.